January 2025
Features
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25 Ways to Thrive in 2025
It’s January: a month to reset, reflect, and renew. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of 25 ways in Atlanta to get moving, get creative, or just get started on a new hobby. You don’t have to change your whole life to kick-start something amazing in 2025: A new pet friend, a ballroom dance class, or a volunteer gardening project could be just the spark you need to make this a year to remember.
Space Ghost: The absurd, low-budget, animated talk show that launched Adult Swim
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast set a precedent for other adult cartoons to follow. It put Atlanta on the map as a quirky treasure trove of warped creative minds. “People discovered that there was a certain flavor and taste to all of this concentration of creative people in Atlanta,” says Khaki Jones, a former Cartoon Network and Adult Swim producer who now works at Disney. “That, to me, is the most magical element.”
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The Connector
Donna Holt, Assistant Doorkeeper at the Georgia Capitol, has a “family” of representatives
Our primary responsibility is to represent our speaker of the House and our lawmakers with the greatest respect and honor. We make sure anybody that comes in the chamber is badged properly; if you don’t have that on, you can’t come through the door. Any visitors, we keep our eyes on them and make sure they’re in compliance with the rules. When the chaplain of the day is doing the devotional, we lock the doors. Nobody can come in or out, and representatives have to turn off phones and computers.
Atlanta is losing trees at an alarming rate—what can we save?
Daniel Solberg, along with fellow neighborhood organization member Kelly Draper, have invested hours of volunteer work to protect four very old trees towering on privately owned land located on Vaughn Street in the Edgewood neighborhood on Atlanta’s east side.
How Georgia’s mail-delivery system sank to the nation’s worst—and what’s coming next
After a Palmetto, Georgia USPS facility opened, on-time deliveries dropped from 90 percent to a shocking 36 percent. Along with crucial documents such as court orders, prescription medications weren’t being delivered to many Georgians. Small businesses weren’t receiving supplies needed for their operations. So what happened? And what’s being done to fix it?
In Sweet Auburn, a birthday party fit for a King
It’s January, the coldest month in Atlanta. Despite the chill, the streets of the Sweet Auburn Historic District come alive every year on the third Monday of the month, when the city celebrates the birthday and legacy of iconic Atlantan Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Bite
Hector Santiago’s new La Metro is his ode to Spain’s tapas bars
This is not chef Hector Santiago’s first tapas rodeo. His new spot in Ponce City Market may be surrounded by spendy shops, but his passion, mission, and the occasional guest flamenco dancer make you feel as if you’ve strolled in from the streets of Barcelona or Madrid, and less as if you’ve just walked out of the nearby Williams-Sonoma.
Green is the new black: Matcha’s rise in Atlanta’s coffee scene
After seven years in the coffee industry, Ashley Saunders decided to pretty much stop drinking coffee. Saunders now co-owns Ash Coffee, which opened in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood in 2023. She keeps coffee alternatives on the menu for people like her who experience some adverse side effects with coffee. The most popular among the alternatives, she says, is matcha.
Restaurant Natalie Bianca brings “New Southern” cooking with Mexican influences to Cascade Heights
Named after a cherished friend of the owner, Natalie Bianca joins a cluster of culinary gems nestled in Cascade Heights, near the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve and the Adams Park neighborhood.
A pleasure-seekers’ guide to crafty cocktails with low to no alcohol
Go to any establishment with a progressive bar program in Atlanta these days, and you’ll find drink options with little to no alcohol—“low ABV,” “nonalcoholic,” “zero-proof,” or “0 ABV”—these sober offerings now bookend their boozy counterparts.
The Goods
James Keith has A-listers clamoring for his hats
James Keith wanted to wear a fedora with his outfit for New Year’s Eve 2015, but he couldn’t find one that quite fit the bill. A year after he conceived his design, he finally got the hat he wanted on his head. On the back of that one fateful night—and hat—he founded his brand, Keith James.
Let the light in and get your creativity out at ATL Glassworks
In a ground-floor studio of Met Atlanta, a creative office complex in the West End, you’ll find ATL Glassworks, a haven for stained glass makers and enthusiasts. The space is cheerily designed: Bubblegum-pink accents line the concrete walls; a lime-green couch anchors a sitting area while suncatchers adorn the windows. In the back, a workspace […]
The Adeboyé brothers explore an experimental theater project that lit up Atlanta 40 years ago
A pop-up before pop-ups were cool, Club Zebra featured live readings, music performances, poetry, dance, and everything in between. The audience watched from small cabaret tables and sipped beer and wine purchased via donations since the show had no alcohol license; it was a speakeasy, after all.
Miscellaneous
Editor’s Journal: The Gift of Willie B.
My editors explained they wanted a story about Willie B., the iconic gorilla at Zoo Atlanta, who was about to reach the age of 40. “We want it written in his voice,” one of them said. “You can make it funny. Have him go to the Cheetah Lounge thinking he can pick up female gorillas.”
A love letter to Center Ice Arena
It was February 2022 when I laced up my skates for the first time in nearly 20 years and hit the ice at Center Ice Arena. I stepped on to the rink and immediately fell—intentionally. We were learning how to pick ourselves back up.
